Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. was arrested by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Wednesday, just days after fighting influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a high-profile match in Anaheim, Calif.
Chávez was arrested for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application and will be deported to Mexico, where he faces charges of involvement in organized crime and arms trafficking, U.S. federal officials said Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said officials determined that Chávez should be arrested on June 27, a day before his match against Paul. It was unclear why they waited to act for days after the high-profile event.
DHS also said in a statement that Chávez “is also believed to be an affiliate of the Sinaloa Cartel, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
“This Sinaloa Cartel affiliate with an active arrest warrant for trafficking guns, ammunition, and explosives was arrested by ICE. It is shocking the previous administration flagged this criminal illegal alien as a public safety threat, but chose to not prioritize his removal and let him leave and COME BACK into our country,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Under President Trump, no one is above the law—including world-famous athletes. Our message to any cartel affiliates in the U.S. is clear: We will find you and you will face consequences. The days of unchecked cartel violence are over.”
A spokesperson for Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office told the New York Times that U.S. authorities had informed Mexican officials about Chávez’s detention and said “they have started the corresponding procedure for his extradition to Mexico.” A spokesperson added that the warrant for Chávez was issued in March 2023.
The 39-year-old boxer was picked up on Wednesday by a large number of federal agents while he was riding a scooter in front of a home where he resides in the upscale Los Angeles neighbourhood of Studio City near Hollywood, according to his lawyer, Michael Goldstein.
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“The current allegations are outrageous and simply another headline to terrorize the community,” Goldstein said.
Goldstein said he did not know where Chávez was being detained as of Thursday morning, but said he and his client were due in court on July 7 in connection with prior gun possession charges.
Chávez’s family issued a statement Thursday afternoon in support of him.
“We have full confidence in his innocence,” they said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “We firmly believe that the proper course is to allow the competent authorities to carry out their work without external pressure or speculation.”
Before his bout with Paul on June 28, Chávez had fought just once since 2021, having fallen to innumerable lows during a lengthy boxing career conducted in the shadow of his father, Julio César Chávez, one of the most beloved athletes in Mexican history and a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame who held five different world titles in four different weight classes.
DHS shared Chávez’s rap sheet in its announcement, which includes an arrest in 2012 where he was convicted of drunk driving in Los Angeles and sentenced to 13 days in jail.
It also included an arrest warrant for Chávez in January 2023 for “the offense of organized crime for the purpose of committing crimes of weapons trafficking and manufacturing crimes, in the modality of those who participate in clandestinely bringing weapons, ammunition, cartridges, explosives into the country; and those who manufacture weapons, ammunition, cartridges, and explosives without the corresponding permit.”
He was also arrested on gun charges in January 2024. Police said he possessed two AR-style ghost rifles. He was later freed on a US$50,000 bond and on the condition that he went to a residential drug treatment facility. The case is still pending, with Chávez reporting his progress regularly.
Chávez split his time between Mexico and the United States. ICE officers detained him for overstaying a tourist visa that he entered the U.S. with in August 2023 and expired in February 2024, the Department of Homeland Security said.
The agency also said Chávez submitted multiple fraudulent statements when he applied for permanent residency on April 2, 2024, based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, Frida Muñoz. She was previously married to Edgar Guzmán López, son of Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán. Guzmán López was killed in a 2008 gun battle in Mexico’s Sinaloa state.
— With files from The Associated Press
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